Life's a Beach...Damn, it's those Fortuners again!

This is a discussion on Life's a Beach...Damn, it's those Fortuners again! within 4x4 Excursions, part of the 4x4 & Off-Roading category; A long overdue Winter Drive !
Feb 9, 2014.
Participants: The Toyota Fortuner Owners Group (TFOG) Gang from Mumbai & ...

I knew it in my bones that it would be a superb day. Splendid weather. Clear blue skies, crisp cool breeze all throughout - even at the zenith of Sun's travel.
Clean & neat drive. We went via Mumbai - Pune E-Way till Khalapur tool booth.

Sun peeks out.

The wait for the Pune posse after taking the U-turn at Khalapur toll booth. The large detachment of cops were eyeing us suspiciously. Thanks to the large scale violence against toll booths by a political party in Mharahstra.

Debating the way to go to Kashid. The directions speak for themselves.

The Pune posse drives in.
Monaro (2nd from left) & a serious Venkat (1st from right). Venkat was woken up after a long night, at a party. It shows.

Now with you know who.

After the Khalapur toll booth we took the Pen Connector Route.
And were hit immediately by a thick pea soup fog.

At this point nothing was visible beyond a couple of meters. Thanks to Monaro's skillful driving we navigated the stretch of about 15 KMs peacefully. Hats off to you mate, Monaro !

And suddenly as it came, it cleared up as well and a bright cheery day ahead.

Some scenes on the way.

And a quick break as Monaro's nerves were shot to pieces in the fog. For a bit of personal plumbing & smoke checks.

Meanwhile leadership programmes advice us not to work in silos !

Back on the delightful drive again...

That dilapidated bridge was quite something.

Breakfast time. A small village joint which called itself a 'Resort'. But the fare was good.

Back on the road again. The additional noise you hear in the background are satisfied burps. And not really the vehicle engines acting up.

Near Kashid - A quick break to get our bearings right and to locate a good spot on the beach.

Finally the spot located. Couldn't have been better !

The first Fortuner in - Karan, guided by Manish.

And the rest followed in a trice.

We decided first to have a photo op and then proceed with the beach drive and 4X4 runs.

Great rears.

Whirring cameras in action now.

And my favourite shot of the day:
To my mind it captures everything. The bright sunshine, the cool breeze and the surf. Can anything get better ? Sigh !

Meanwhile the rest.

Rearranged the Fortuners to give 'them' a different view !

We then decided to check out the true horse power of the vehicles. We found it to be as stated in the specifications in the manual.

Evidence of the effects of repeated oil spills off the beach.

Karan's checking the sand for traction.

This group that walked away took plenty of snaps posing next to the Fortuners line up. They were delighted.

Looking forward to...

Snapping the snapper.

Life's so funny. This ATV ridewallahs sprinted up to us and asked whether there was any campaign on. We replied in negative and we got talking amongst ourselves as to how this baby was the real thing. And we heard the two guys chat between themselves and mention how the parked vehicles were the ekdum solid, sahee cheez for the roads and off it. Well, as usual the grass is greener on the other side I guess !

And the beach ride. Short and simple. Spinning wheels, only gently throwing up sand, traction loss sometimes and quick end not wanting to create a mess and commotion. But the Fortuner's capabilities (AWD & 4x4) were once again checked. Though I dindn't engage the HL or LL at all on the Admiral. We avoided the water completely and with a good reason too. Uncle Corrosion was lurking somewhere there.
Some folks did sense the clutch burn smell on aggressive pushes.

After the beach run. Karan decided to check out his Continental tyres and the 4x4 system a little more than the rest. The bullock cart owner was mighty amused.

Meanwhile the rest checked out the vehicles and the sand contents inside.

Meanwhile Karan was still at it.

And finally it was time to depart.

The Mumbai folks came back on NH 17 via Panvel and Pune posse went back the way they came via Khalapur.
Again a peaceful drive back home which ended for the Mumbai chaps at 3.30 pm and at 4.30 pm for the Punekars.

Great Day of fun. Did not know of this, else would have joined from Pune. Well my loss....

That's truly a pity Jumbo ! Especially since you own a Fortuner. If you can let us have your contact particulars then it'd be great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by karan561

It was one of our shortest but tiring drives...

Nice snaps there Karan.
Driving on NH17 is a mother mighty pain isn't it ? And down right dangerous too. And the ST buses drive like they couldn't care less. It was indeed rather tiresome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by getsurya

Wow! Awesome pictures and a crisp write up!

The one with the tree, sea & Fortuners take the cake!

Thank you getsurya. If we could get you and Boss around these parts or we come down to your neck of the woods it'd be great !

Quote:

Originally Posted by noopster

Lovely morning spent on the beach and some great pics there, Guderian. Am willing to bet good money it was your idea to have the Fortuners lined up by colour .

Met Monaro_CV8 the previous evening and he looked like an excited little boy with his first toy at the prospect of waking up at 5 am and heading for the beach meet. Now I kinda get why!

Please keep making such nice memories and posting them on the forums. Just one question: is it safe to go that close to the water with your 2-ton vehicles?

Hey noopster, Long time.
Thank you for the kind words.
I'll be damned ! We never realised that the Fortuners were lined up by colour...no, it wasn't me but one of life's happy coincidences. Now that you mention - yeah it sorta looks nice.

We were indeed worried about the waterline and hence were very clear that we wouldn't even venture to where the moisture line was visible. We did walk about and stomp to see the water collect at some points and decided to stay far away from that line. Yeah, beached whales aren't a pretty sight really !

Awesome fun you guys had!Would have loved to join in.
Great narration guderian sir and lovely photography just love the pic of Karan's Fortuner launching in the sand.
Also hope you guys have washed your underbody thoroughly after the sand bashing.
Enjoy!